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Sorcerer (1977)
Director: William Friedkin
Cast overview: Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer
Running time: 121 minutes
People talk about football being a game of two halves. This was certainly, for me, a film of two halves, for reasons which I'll discuss further on in the review. This was recommended to me by cricket and Daniel M, so I thought I might as well give it a watch. It's supposedly a remake of the 1953 French film, The Wages of Fear. The basic premise - four men from differing parts of the globe descend on a South American village and agree to transport nitroglycerin in a truck - is fairly straightforward, and intriguing enough, reminding me at first glance as being similar to Fitzcarraldo and Deliverance. The presence of Scheider was also something positive.
I have mixed feelings about the film as a whole, unfortunately. My main issue was the pacing. The film takes a whole hour to get going, with the first hour being spent doing seemingly not very much, with little dialogue, little character development, little of anything. I liked the four split sequences at the beginning that introduced the characters, but too much time was spent in the first hour getting into the story, and I felt this could have been trimmed dramatically. For the first hour I felt nothing but apathy towards the characters, and my overall understanding was minimal.
The second hour sees events become far more interesting, as the main plot seems to spring into being and things start to happen. It's a shame it takes so long for this to happen. The second half is engrossing, exciting, and suspenseful. Tangerine Dream's synth-filled score is appropriate, the cinematography is excellent, and the film takes on an altogether more interesting aspect. It's also quite frightening in an unorthodox way. The bridge scene, in particular - for which the film is mostly known, is extremely tense, forming the best scene in the film by some distance for me.
Overall, this wasn't a bad film by any means, given that the second hour for me was enjoyable, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping and expecting. Not the fault of cricket or Daniel M - most seem to have enjoyed this but I just felt that the first hour dragged it down further than I'd have expected. Dull first half, exciting second half, for me. Reasonable.
Quotes
Corlette: [Corlette is observing Scanlon's truck-driving technique] Teamsters?
Scanlon: Greyhound.
Scanlon: Where am I going?
Vinnie: All I can say is it's a good place to lay low.
Scanlon: Why?
Vinnie: It's the kind of place nobody wants to go looking.
Scanlon: You read about this place in the travel brochures?
"Serrano": I heard it had a healthy climate.
Scanlon: Not what you expected though?
"Serrano": It was exactly what I expected!
Trivia
Despite its look, the rope bridge was actually quite elaborate in its construction and contained numerous safety devices as well as hydraulic lifts in order for the special effects crew to manipulate it into motion. It cost $1 million to build. After it was completed the original river for the scene (in the Dominican Republic) went almost completely dry for the first time in its history, due to a drought. The bridge had to be torn down and a new location was found in Tuxtepec, Mexico. The bridge had to be rebuilt at the cost of another $1 million. However, the raging river that the bridge was built over began to dry up. The crew had to put a 24-hour guard around the bridge because the superstitious locals threatened to blow it up believing it was the bridge and the "intruders" that caused the river to become shallow. By the time filming began the water was only 18 inches deep and looked completely nonthreatening. The crew didn't have the time or the money to find another location, so William Friedkin decided to add an artificial current and rainstorm (using helicopters/wind machines and men on towers with giant hoses). The bridge itself was so rickety that, despite the safety precautions, the truck (often with an actor inside of it) slid off the side and into the shallow water five times during rehearsals and filming. The entire sequence took three months to shoot. Friedkin stated it was by far the most difficult sequence he ever filmed in his career.
Due to the subtitles at the beginning of the film many theater patrons began complaining, believing that they had unknowingly paid to see a foreign film. In order to alleviate that, special posters were quickly printed up and posted in the theater lobby which stated the following. "YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. To dramatize the diverse backgrounds of the principal characters in "Sorcerer", two of the opening sequences were filmed in the appropriate foreign languages - with subtitles in English. Other than these opening scenes, "Sorcerer" is an English-language film."
Tangerine Dream wrote the musical score using only a draft of the script given to them by director William Friedkin. At no time did they see any actual footage of the film.
Trailer
Director: William Friedkin
Cast overview: Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer
Running time: 121 minutes
People talk about football being a game of two halves. This was certainly, for me, a film of two halves, for reasons which I'll discuss further on in the review. This was recommended to me by cricket and Daniel M, so I thought I might as well give it a watch. It's supposedly a remake of the 1953 French film, The Wages of Fear. The basic premise - four men from differing parts of the globe descend on a South American village and agree to transport nitroglycerin in a truck - is fairly straightforward, and intriguing enough, reminding me at first glance as being similar to Fitzcarraldo and Deliverance. The presence of Scheider was also something positive.
I have mixed feelings about the film as a whole, unfortunately. My main issue was the pacing. The film takes a whole hour to get going, with the first hour being spent doing seemingly not very much, with little dialogue, little character development, little of anything. I liked the four split sequences at the beginning that introduced the characters, but too much time was spent in the first hour getting into the story, and I felt this could have been trimmed dramatically. For the first hour I felt nothing but apathy towards the characters, and my overall understanding was minimal.
The second hour sees events become far more interesting, as the main plot seems to spring into being and things start to happen. It's a shame it takes so long for this to happen. The second half is engrossing, exciting, and suspenseful. Tangerine Dream's synth-filled score is appropriate, the cinematography is excellent, and the film takes on an altogether more interesting aspect. It's also quite frightening in an unorthodox way. The bridge scene, in particular - for which the film is mostly known, is extremely tense, forming the best scene in the film by some distance for me.
Overall, this wasn't a bad film by any means, given that the second hour for me was enjoyable, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping and expecting. Not the fault of cricket or Daniel M - most seem to have enjoyed this but I just felt that the first hour dragged it down further than I'd have expected. Dull first half, exciting second half, for me. Reasonable.
Quotes
Corlette: [Corlette is observing Scanlon's truck-driving technique] Teamsters?
Scanlon: Greyhound.
Scanlon: Where am I going?
Vinnie: All I can say is it's a good place to lay low.
Scanlon: Why?
Vinnie: It's the kind of place nobody wants to go looking.
Scanlon: You read about this place in the travel brochures?
"Serrano": I heard it had a healthy climate.
Scanlon: Not what you expected though?
"Serrano": It was exactly what I expected!
Trivia
Despite its look, the rope bridge was actually quite elaborate in its construction and contained numerous safety devices as well as hydraulic lifts in order for the special effects crew to manipulate it into motion. It cost $1 million to build. After it was completed the original river for the scene (in the Dominican Republic) went almost completely dry for the first time in its history, due to a drought. The bridge had to be torn down and a new location was found in Tuxtepec, Mexico. The bridge had to be rebuilt at the cost of another $1 million. However, the raging river that the bridge was built over began to dry up. The crew had to put a 24-hour guard around the bridge because the superstitious locals threatened to blow it up believing it was the bridge and the "intruders" that caused the river to become shallow. By the time filming began the water was only 18 inches deep and looked completely nonthreatening. The crew didn't have the time or the money to find another location, so William Friedkin decided to add an artificial current and rainstorm (using helicopters/wind machines and men on towers with giant hoses). The bridge itself was so rickety that, despite the safety precautions, the truck (often with an actor inside of it) slid off the side and into the shallow water five times during rehearsals and filming. The entire sequence took three months to shoot. Friedkin stated it was by far the most difficult sequence he ever filmed in his career.
Due to the subtitles at the beginning of the film many theater patrons began complaining, believing that they had unknowingly paid to see a foreign film. In order to alleviate that, special posters were quickly printed up and posted in the theater lobby which stated the following. "YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. To dramatize the diverse backgrounds of the principal characters in "Sorcerer", two of the opening sequences were filmed in the appropriate foreign languages - with subtitles in English. Other than these opening scenes, "Sorcerer" is an English-language film."
Tangerine Dream wrote the musical score using only a draft of the script given to them by director William Friedkin. At no time did they see any actual footage of the film.
Trailer